I am sitting in my apartment on a Sunday evening (8:45 p.m.) eating mango and sticky rice (absolutely delicious Thai fruit and dessert) and thinking about the many Japanese people that are going through pure devastation. Natural disasters amaze me with their great power to destroy everything in their path. Not too many years ago Thailand was cleaning up the mess from a tsunami that struck without warning.
My heart breaks for these people as they look around for loved ones wondering if they are still alive. All I can do is pray for them and pray for the missionaries that are serving in Japan that they can use this disaster to draw people to the Lord.
Sometimes it takes big things like this to happen in the world to wake us up and realize how thankful we should be for what we have every day. I am very thankful and will continue to pray for those who are without in Japan during this very difficult time.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Thursday Night Bible/English Class
I have a huge praise to share with everyone. Tonight I had 13 people for my English/Bible class! I definitely wasn't expecting that many students so I ran out of Bibles quickly and had to find more fast. This is a great problem to have and it was solved quickly. Tonight at 5:00 I started the first class. At first there were 6 new students. I started with the first Bible story about Jesus birth. By 6:00 I had 13 students total in the class. 5 of them had studied this lesson before last term but didn't seem to mind learning again.
A little before 7:00 I finished and 9 of the students left. 4 of my students from last term stayed and we studied the lesson about Lazarus being resurrected. Although I was super excited to have 13 people tonight my favorite part of the night was from 7:00-8:30 when I had the 4 students that I studied with all last term. It was my favorite part for many reasons. I started on story 90 with them last term and we are now on story 98. It is almost like a little Bible study and we all know each other well so it is very comfortable. They ask a lot of questions and interact throughout the story. They also remember everything we have learned before. The other really meaningful part about this group is that all 4 of them come on Thursday nights just to study in this class. Most of the time the people who study this free class come before or after their English paid class that they study at the BSC.
I learned 2 things from tonight. 1. THINK BIG and expect GOD to do great things because HE will and HE did! 2. Continue to be faithful in investing in something because one day in God's timing fruit will produce.
The first Bible/English class I taught on January 13th had 1 person and my 8th Bible/English class taught tonight (March 10th) had 13 people. It produced quickly in this situation :)
A little before 7:00 I finished and 9 of the students left. 4 of my students from last term stayed and we studied the lesson about Lazarus being resurrected. Although I was super excited to have 13 people tonight my favorite part of the night was from 7:00-8:30 when I had the 4 students that I studied with all last term. It was my favorite part for many reasons. I started on story 90 with them last term and we are now on story 98. It is almost like a little Bible study and we all know each other well so it is very comfortable. They ask a lot of questions and interact throughout the story. They also remember everything we have learned before. The other really meaningful part about this group is that all 4 of them come on Thursday nights just to study in this class. Most of the time the people who study this free class come before or after their English paid class that they study at the BSC.
I learned 2 things from tonight. 1. THINK BIG and expect GOD to do great things because HE will and HE did! 2. Continue to be faithful in investing in something because one day in God's timing fruit will produce.
The first Bible/English class I taught on January 13th had 1 person and my 8th Bible/English class taught tonight (March 10th) had 13 people. It produced quickly in this situation :)
Monday, March 7, 2011
New Traditions, Projects, and more......
I love how life is always changing and a lot of those changes are positive, rewarding, and beneficial for myself and for others. I will share about a few of those changes in this post.
One New Tradition that just recently started involves a group of us going to the park every Saturday afternoon around 3:30. If you are wondering why we go at that time it is mainly because the weather is quite hot here so between 3-4 p.m. the sun is less intense. There are about 4-6 people from my church who go together every Saturday. At first we tried to play ultimate frisbee but it's too difficult with such a small amount of people. We were exhausted within the first 20-3o minutes because we were constantly running. Now we usually go and play basketball at a half-court area in the park. There are many advantages to playing basketball in this location. One major advantage is that there are several Thai people who play there every week so now we have made some new friends. I love that I am getting some intense exercise at least 1 day a week and that it is becoming routine for me to go every week. The other fun part is that after we exercise at the park for several hours (until about 6:30) a group of us go and eat dinner together. It is a great time of fellowship with other believers at our church. I hope to be able to get to know the people that we play basketball with better so that we can invite them also to join us for dinner.
Another new tradition is that every Sunday afternoon from 1:00-2:30 we have our Sunday school time at Canaan. We just started this 3 weeks ago and currently have 3 different classes. I help teach one class with P'Pom (my Thai friend). There have been 7-8 people in my class every week so far. I am very encouraged by this great start for such a small church. We only have about 20-30 people total on an average Sunday for church. Today there were 8 in my class and 6 in another class and 2 in the other class. That is over 50% of the church participating in sunday school. Praise the Lord for this great start!
This week I will also start teaching my Thursday night Bible/English class at the BSC. This will be my 2nd (7 week term) to teach there. I am so excited because at least 4 of my students from last term plan to study with me again. They are all non-christians but they continue to desire to learn more about Jesus. I am also praying for some new students to join this term also. I am so thankful that the door opened for me to teach this class on Thursday nights and hope to make this a long running tradition because it is such an easy way to share the Good News with people and that is really what I came here to do!
Every week is different for me but it's exciting most of the time. Sripatum Univ. is closed for a few weeks until the summer term starts the 21st. Chulalongkorn Univ. is finishing up their final exams this week and then will have a break for a few weeks before their summer term begins also. Even though I am not going to SPU at all for a few weeks and only going to Chula to meet with P'Thai to study English/Bible with her on Wed. I am still keeping busy as God continues to open new doors all around me!
I love new traditions, projects, and anything God has for me! I hope to update on more again soon!
One New Tradition that just recently started involves a group of us going to the park every Saturday afternoon around 3:30. If you are wondering why we go at that time it is mainly because the weather is quite hot here so between 3-4 p.m. the sun is less intense. There are about 4-6 people from my church who go together every Saturday. At first we tried to play ultimate frisbee but it's too difficult with such a small amount of people. We were exhausted within the first 20-3o minutes because we were constantly running. Now we usually go and play basketball at a half-court area in the park. There are many advantages to playing basketball in this location. One major advantage is that there are several Thai people who play there every week so now we have made some new friends. I love that I am getting some intense exercise at least 1 day a week and that it is becoming routine for me to go every week. The other fun part is that after we exercise at the park for several hours (until about 6:30) a group of us go and eat dinner together. It is a great time of fellowship with other believers at our church. I hope to be able to get to know the people that we play basketball with better so that we can invite them also to join us for dinner.
Another new tradition is that every Sunday afternoon from 1:00-2:30 we have our Sunday school time at Canaan. We just started this 3 weeks ago and currently have 3 different classes. I help teach one class with P'Pom (my Thai friend). There have been 7-8 people in my class every week so far. I am very encouraged by this great start for such a small church. We only have about 20-30 people total on an average Sunday for church. Today there were 8 in my class and 6 in another class and 2 in the other class. That is over 50% of the church participating in sunday school. Praise the Lord for this great start!
This week I will also start teaching my Thursday night Bible/English class at the BSC. This will be my 2nd (7 week term) to teach there. I am so excited because at least 4 of my students from last term plan to study with me again. They are all non-christians but they continue to desire to learn more about Jesus. I am also praying for some new students to join this term also. I am so thankful that the door opened for me to teach this class on Thursday nights and hope to make this a long running tradition because it is such an easy way to share the Good News with people and that is really what I came here to do!
Every week is different for me but it's exciting most of the time. Sripatum Univ. is closed for a few weeks until the summer term starts the 21st. Chulalongkorn Univ. is finishing up their final exams this week and then will have a break for a few weeks before their summer term begins also. Even though I am not going to SPU at all for a few weeks and only going to Chula to meet with P'Thai to study English/Bible with her on Wed. I am still keeping busy as God continues to open new doors all around me!
I love new traditions, projects, and anything God has for me! I hope to update on more again soon!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Focus on how far you have come not how far you have to go
This title fits me in so many ways. The one thing I think of first is the Thai language. Am I a fluent Thai speaker?? No way, not even close! Do I understand the message at church on Sunday morning? Nope, not really. Can I read Thai? A little bit but I'm very slow that it's not really useful for anything. So, you may be thinking to yourself or wanting to ask me about now--what can you do or what do you know??
I arrived in Thailand a little over 2 years ago and didn't really know one word in Thai. Now I know lots of Thai words. I don't always know how to put the words in the correct order to make a sentence but I do have lots of Thai vocabulary floating around in my brain.
I don't understand everything I hear but I do understand a lot of what I hear and I do know immediately whether someone is speaking Thai or not. A lot of Asian people look the same but as soon as I hear someone start to speak I know they are speaking Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or some other language that is not Thai.
I can not read Thai well and I don't even know all of the rules for writing but I can follow along on Sunday mornings when they sing. I can't always sing along because I read slow but I can find where they are in the song pretty accurately.
I can not understand most of the message on Sunday mornings but I can listen and understand all scripture references given and when I read it in English it makes it easier to follow the message.
I definitely have a long long long long long way to go in finding success with the Thai language but if I look back to where I began I really have come a long way. I am certainly not gifted in learning other languages but God brought me here anyways so I will keep trying to learn this very difficult language and take joy in the little steps of success.
I arrived in Thailand a little over 2 years ago and didn't really know one word in Thai. Now I know lots of Thai words. I don't always know how to put the words in the correct order to make a sentence but I do have lots of Thai vocabulary floating around in my brain.
I don't understand everything I hear but I do understand a lot of what I hear and I do know immediately whether someone is speaking Thai or not. A lot of Asian people look the same but as soon as I hear someone start to speak I know they are speaking Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or some other language that is not Thai.
I can not read Thai well and I don't even know all of the rules for writing but I can follow along on Sunday mornings when they sing. I can't always sing along because I read slow but I can find where they are in the song pretty accurately.
I can not understand most of the message on Sunday mornings but I can listen and understand all scripture references given and when I read it in English it makes it easier to follow the message.
I definitely have a long long long long long way to go in finding success with the Thai language but if I look back to where I began I really have come a long way. I am certainly not gifted in learning other languages but God brought me here anyways so I will keep trying to learn this very difficult language and take joy in the little steps of success.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Looking Back ...... Bus experiences
I took some time tonight to glance back at my posts when I first arrived in Thailand. All those things that were so new and strange to me then are now old and normal. I still really love living in a big city. I haven't driven a car in over 2 years and I don't mind a bit. I forget that it was something I used to do every day in my life in America. I love taking public transportation. It made me laugh when I read my past post about my first bus riding experience. I ride the bus every day now and it really is quite simple to use. I just memorize the bus numbers to go to certain locations. I can read a little Thai but by the time I can figure out what it says the bus is already gone so i don't rely on my reading skills to take the right bus.
I actually have a funny story to tell about my reading skills and riding the bus. A few weeks ago I was at the bus stop near one of the malls with Eric. Eric can't read Thai at all. Bus number 24 was coming and I could read that it said in Thai it would go to Victory Monument. I told Eric we could take that bus because it says victory monument. I've never been on that bus before and it's not one of the memorized numbers but hey I can read Thai and it says it goes there. We got on the bus and Eric even asked the lady if the bus went to Victory Monument (guess he didn't trust my Thai reading skills) and she confirmed that it did. I was so proud of myself until we got to the major intersection and it turned left. uh oh in order to go to where we live you have to go straight. Well the bus does go to Victory Monument but it takes a different route and it won't be passing by our home. We had to get off that bus and change to another bus in order to get home. So much for reading skills. I guess I should stick with the memorized numbers :)
I actually have a funny story to tell about my reading skills and riding the bus. A few weeks ago I was at the bus stop near one of the malls with Eric. Eric can't read Thai at all. Bus number 24 was coming and I could read that it said in Thai it would go to Victory Monument. I told Eric we could take that bus because it says victory monument. I've never been on that bus before and it's not one of the memorized numbers but hey I can read Thai and it says it goes there. We got on the bus and Eric even asked the lady if the bus went to Victory Monument (guess he didn't trust my Thai reading skills) and she confirmed that it did. I was so proud of myself until we got to the major intersection and it turned left. uh oh in order to go to where we live you have to go straight. Well the bus does go to Victory Monument but it takes a different route and it won't be passing by our home. We had to get off that bus and change to another bus in order to get home. So much for reading skills. I guess I should stick with the memorized numbers :)
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Answered Prayers
Brownie Party photo from February 5th. The major praise in this photo is that Koy (girl on the far left) who just recently became a believer brought 3 of her friends who study with her at nursing school with her to the party. The other 3 are all non-believers. 
This was a great praise. I had just met Nan and Jae at the BSC that week and invited them to come to the party and they came! The other praise is that Nice (a Thai Christian) did an excellent job at visiting with them and helping to take care of them.
Great Praise that 4 students from SPU came to help prepare the brownies and also brought 2 friends from another University with them. They are all non-believers.
The Lord answered this prayer in a mighty way. Joanna (in the middle) is a Thai believer from my church. I asked her to help me on Thursday nights with my Bible/English class because it's important that the students truly understand what I am teaching so she helps to translate in Thai when they don't understand me. Joanna is faithful to come and help me and also faithful to be a friend to these young ladies and other people who study with me.
My Bible/English class at the BSC. This class started out with 1 student and then 2 students and now I have 4-5 students on a regular basis by the 5th week of teaching! In this photo from Left to Right is Jae, Nan, Tock, and Koy. There is also a lady named Kuan that has come 2 times.
God is working in mighty ways and I am so thankful. This Thursday will be the 7th week at the BSC of teaching the Bible/English class. This week will be my last class this term. We will have 1 week off and then will start the next 7 week term. All 4 of them in the photo have said they will continue coming on Thursday night. I am praying for me to be able to continue teaching them and also to get some new students to make up another class.
This was a great praise. I had just met Nan and Jae at the BSC that week and invited them to come to the party and they came! The other praise is that Nice (a Thai Christian) did an excellent job at visiting with them and helping to take care of them. 
Great Praise that 4 students from SPU came to help prepare the brownies and also brought 2 friends from another University with them. They are all non-believers.
The Lord answered this prayer in a mighty way. Joanna (in the middle) is a Thai believer from my church. I asked her to help me on Thursday nights with my Bible/English class because it's important that the students truly understand what I am teaching so she helps to translate in Thai when they don't understand me. Joanna is faithful to come and help me and also faithful to be a friend to these young ladies and other people who study with me.
My Bible/English class at the BSC. This class started out with 1 student and then 2 students and now I have 4-5 students on a regular basis by the 5th week of teaching! In this photo from Left to Right is Jae, Nan, Tock, and Koy. There is also a lady named Kuan that has come 2 times.
God is working in mighty ways and I am so thankful. This Thursday will be the 7th week at the BSC of teaching the Bible/English class. This week will be my last class this term. We will have 1 week off and then will start the next 7 week term. All 4 of them in the photo have said they will continue coming on Thursday night. I am praying for me to be able to continue teaching them and also to get some new students to make up another class.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Valentine's Day 2011
Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Monday is my day off so today I am just relaxing at my apartment. We had a small valentine's party at church yesterday so I will include a few photos.
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